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The Awesome Mohawk Teacher and Consultant Behind Ratonhnhaké:ton

I first heard about the use of Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) in Assassin’s Creed 3 at the Ubisoft panel at PAX Prime in Seattle. It seemed like a bona-fide attempt by Ubisoft to properly research and bring in cultural and linguistic mentors from the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Nation to inform the game’s development team with guidelines on honoring that Nation’s language and cultural traditions. Connor (his adopted name) or Ratonhnhaké:ton (Kanien:keéha for “He scratches / scrapes at life”) speaks the Kanien’kéha language during the first quarter of the game (during his childhood in his village) and when he addresses other members of his Nation. I couldn’t help but wonder how much research and work had actually gone on behind the scenes. I submitted some questions about the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Nation’s input in Assassin’s Creed 3, to the two Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk Nation) members who counseled Ubisoft for the video game: Akwiratékha Martin, and Teiowí:sonte Thomas Deer.

Deer is a consultant and Martin is a teacher, and both work at the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center. Deer was the principal Kanien’kehá:ka cultural consultant, whose job was to answer the creative team’s specific questions about Kanien’kehá:ka culture and scrutinize certain parts of the game that were highlighted as in need of review by the Ubisoft creative team. Besides acting as the Kanien’kehá:ka cultural liaison, Deer’s current responsibilities at the Center include those of graphic artist and illustrator. Martin’s role at the Center is Kanien’kéha language teacher. He and his co-worker teach adults in a two year immersion program. He is also a freelance translator and voice coach and also does dubbing work in the Kanien’kéha language.

The following is the interview segment with Akwiratékha Martin.

Venables: Were there any linguistic challenges with adding Kanien’kéha dialogue in a video game?

Akwiratékha Martin. (Photo credit: Akwiratékha Martin)

Akwiratékha: The challenge of the project was working with the various dialects of Kanien’kéha to choose the correct one to use. The translation project involved only me and my elder. In the beginning, Teiowí:sonte asked me to help him with a small translation for the game. Then, he gave my name to Ubisoft to do translation for them. I also wanted to mention something else about the translation process. During my work with the game, the writers (Corey May) gave me full permission to change anything that I found inappropriate or any dialogue that just didn’t sound very “Kanien’kéha”. It was freeing and I felt very respected. Even during the recording of the dialogue (I was the voice coach also for the Kanien’kéha VA), I was very respected and they didn’t hinder me from needing to re-translate or change anything in the dialogue. They were all very open.

Venables: Were there any restrictions on the vocabulary you could use in the game, for example avoiding certain references to sacred observances, ceremonies and traditions?

Akwiratékha: For myself when translating, I had to keep in mind to not use modern vocabulary, which was pretty easy because there was almost zero. The challenge in working with the language was expressing things and not using English words. Ubisoft avoided portraying ceremonies to avoid cultural mistakes.

Venables: How difficult was the process of incorporating elements of the Kanien’kehá:ka language and traditional belief system into the script of the Assassin’s Creed 3 video game?

Akwiratékha: Ubisoft wanted to use the early Kanien’kéha “creation story” of Sky Woman, but the problem was that the Kanien’kehá:ka [people of the Mohawk Nation] were not created yet. What they wrote in the script was something along the lines of, “what did Sky Woman tell the people?”, which didn’t make any sense because people were not even around yet [according to Kanien'kehá:ka traditional beliefs].

I did the voice-over work in the game [of the character Kanen'tó:kon, Connor's childhood friend]. I had previous voice-over work experience, but no previous acting experience. As a I usually do dubbing and have had some experience doing voice-overs in a cartoon called By The Rapids

Also, I had a comment about the character, that I am upset how the creators made Connor’s friend [Kanen'tó:kon] look way too old. His character is supposed to be in his 20′s or 30′s, and the character looks 50 plus. I’m embarrassed about it. I felt angry when I was doing some YouTube research, and found out that some people thought Kanien’kéha was not real and sounded made-up. But in the end, my elder was happy to see our involvement in the game.

The following is the interview segment with Teiowí:sonte Thomas Deer.

Venables: What kind of cultural guidelines did you set down for Ubisoft to allow Ratonhnhaké:ton in Assassin’s Creed 3 to appear as a member of the Kanien’kehá:ka in appearance, speech and beliefs? Was this a community process that involved Nation elders in deliberation?

Teiowí:sonte: For the most part, I was able to provide advice independently, drawing from my own knowledge of our history and culture. However, for things I was not completely sure about, I did my research and asked around our community.

Certainly, a big part of why I was recruited was to ensure that Ubisoft did not produce anything that would be considered culturally offensive to our people. That said, ideas were often bounced off of me to ensure that Ubisoft was culturally sensitive and accurate. For example, when some of the writers were thinking about a segment which used ceremonial masks, I immediately advised them not to incorporate something so spiritually private to our people. No doubt, our people would have been quite upset about something like that in the game and probably would have presented a stern opposition against the game.

To their credit, Ubisoft went above and beyond to ensure that the rich and distinct culture of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Nation was accurately portrayed in the final product, to the best of their ability.

Venables: Do you have any further thoughts on your contribution to helping the Kanien’kehá:ka Mohawk Nation share its culture with the world, in a video game?

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